Working Internationally

Four new internships sponsored by ILR's Off-Campus Credit Programs began this semester in Egypt, India, Switzerland and London.

A total of 42 students are participating in the off-campus program this semester.

In addition to the four students in new internships, 11 others are abroad -- 10 in Geneva, Switzerland, and one is in Dublin, Ireland.

The new internships are with Hess Oil, the International Labour Organization and UNI Global Union.

Bill Peterson '10, ILR's first intern in Egypt, is working in Cairo for the International Labour Organization on issues related to child labor and human trafficking.

Part of his work is assisting with the SCREAM (Supporting Children's Rights Through Education, the Arts and the Media) Cairo Club. More than 100 high school and university students are being recruited to participate.

The goal of SCREAM is to incorporate child labor awareness with student skill-building activities such as writing, drama, research and media outreach.

Peterson is also working on a project to develop an educational toolkit informing Egyptian workers on rights, capacity-building techniques and initiating social dialogue. The toolkit will be used in the textiles, tourism, chemicals, food processing, engineering and electronics industries.

Part of Peterson's internship is being funded by an Edward Gray Memorial Credit Internship Award.

One of Peterson's advisers is Professor Ali Hadi, a former ILR professor now on the faculty of the American University in Cairo.

Adrien Dumoulin-Smith '09 is working in Nyon, Switzerland, for UNI Global Union, the world’s leading multi-national labor organization.

The internship was created with the help of Michael Bride, a chief assistant to Joe Hansen, president of the Food and Commercial Workers’ Union. Hansen was this year's Alice B. Grant Labor Leader in Residence at the ILR School.

Dumoulin-Smith's work includes researching information for the group’s website, designing a database and contributing to commerce industry reports. UNI Global Union fosters dialogue among multinational groups.

Dumoulin-Smith's internship is supported by an Edward Grey Memorial Credit Internship Award and an Ernie Rosenberg Memorial Credit Internship Award.

Elise Blasingame '10, ILR's first intern in New Delhi, India, is working for the International Labour Organization.

Her responsibilities include editing field reports and media documents, updating the website and preparing information and activities for the World Day Against Child Labour June 12.

The World Day Against Child Labour aims to promote awareness and action to tackle child labor. This year's focus issue is the exploitation of girls in child labor.

"Just being in an office with so many experts on various forms of child labor is absolutely humbling," Blasingame said.

While in India, Blasingame is also working on an independent study focused on the current state of the feminist movement in India.

Blasingame's work in India is supported by a grant from ILR Dean Harry Katz to promote international undergraduate education and by an Edward Gray Memorial Credit Internship Award.

Brian Barber '10 is working in London this semester for Hess Oil in human resource management.

His supervisor is Lesley Hemphill, Hess's senior human resource manager for Europe and Eurasia.

Barber, as part of his internship, reviewed the Individual Development Plan portion of the online talent management system at Hess.

From that review, he produced a report that detailed plan quality, improvement needs and how the plan fits into Hess's development model.

Barber also helped create training workshops for managers and employees on how to write an effective Individual Development Plan.

Barber completed a training program in Hess' candidate management system and its talent management system.

Barber's internship is the second international credit internship arranged with Hess Oil through John Scelfo '79, a Hess executive and member of the ILR Alumni Association Board of Directors.

Last year, Philip Hartle '08 worked in human resource management for Hess at its office in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.  He is now working full time for Hess in Kuala Lumpur.